The strong stench emanating from huge heaps of rubbish dumped everywhere in any manner on a hot afternoon may easily chock anyone that is new to such an environment.
Some boys nevertheless rush to a given dumpsite and are seen scrambling for waste paper bags all in efforts to look for food remains to sustain them for that extra day.
Pools of water littered with all manner of dirt and of course pungent odor spring up from them. Dogs and other domestic animals are seen loitering among the residents of the town.
Sadly even as eyes keep shifting from one of these scenes to the other, there seem to be no one ready to tackle this vital matter of the safety of our environment head on.
Nakuru town in the former years was known throughout Africa to be the cleanest of all towns in East Africa.
Any person sensitive to matters of the environment and who happens to hail from this town with a great history would fail to understand how things just turned from purely white sceneries to ugly sites that most cannot stand.
What went wrong? Who did not stand up firm to advocate for the conservation of the environment? Who could be sleeping on their jobs? Who do we turn to reclaim the environmental standards that had been set long time ago when perhaps most of us were not born yet.
Just the other day, Nakuru town and its environs had to feel the rage of Mother Nature. Residents had to face cholera head on as it had been declared an outbreak in the county.
Following the County’s Public Health Officer Directive that food vending businesses be closed to avert the possibilities of continued contraction of the disease, most of such businesses were closed. However, there was no proper follow up to ensure that this is implemented as it should be to amicably stop new cases of contracting the disease.
Unfortunately, Nakuru County had to part with over 60 of their very own after succumbing to the contagious waterborne disease.
The environment is what sustains any human being on the face of the earth and if we tamper with it, we shall reap the bitter harvest of having to contract diseases which may eventually lead to deaths as we witnessed in the first half of 2015.
Everything boils down to one major thing that requires urgent attention lest we succumb to it; environmental conservation.
Nakuru County Executive for the Environment, Natural resources, Energy and Water Dr Richard Rop ought to shoulder this burden. Apparently, Dr Rop not only shoulders the environment burden but has many other responsibilities all about his docket.
This is a simple plea from a simple Kenyan who wishes that Nakuru goes back to its former glory. The ball is now in the courts of the CEC, we are watching.
My eyes long for a time when I shall see no huge rubbish heaps as my nose enjoy the fresh air that ought to be circulating freely without having to fight for its position from the stench that I experience especially on a hot afternoon.